Fast Women: Catching up with Emily Sisson
And a look at some of the NCAA conference meet highlights.
Issue 351, sponsored by Bombas
Note: Next Monday’s newsletter will go out at 8:30 a.m. ET, instead of the usual 5:00 a.m.
Emily Sisson is feeling like herself again
At yesterday’s Great Manchester Run 10K, in Manchester, England, Ethiopia’s Medina Eisa broke away in the seventh kilometer and went on to win in 30:42. Behind her, Emily Sisson (second, 31:03), Ethiopia’s Gotytom Gebreslase (third, 31:11), and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri (fourth, 31:16) had an exciting three-way battle. (You can see the full results here.)
Shortly after her race, Sisson, 33, spoke to Fast Women by phone about her run, her move to Ireland, and overcoming the struggles that had been holding her back. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
So it sounds like there was a breakaway after 5K. Was that a calculated decision to hang back, thinking you might reel them in later?
Yeah, I didn’t feel like I could go with them when they went. It felt like a very quick move. But I was like, “I think I can reel some people in.” The race definitely didn’t go how I thought it was going to go, but I was still happy with it.
The course is downhill the first couple of miles, and so it’s often a course people positive split, but you can run pretty fast on it. So I thought from the start it would just go out really fast and we’d all be running solo. But we went out pretty conservatively and there was a big pack of us. And then when we hit halfway and turned back to go uphill and hit a headwind, that’s when they made a move.
I kind of enjoyed it because it was just like pure racing. So many people were talking about running fast times, and I think some people might have been disappointed, but I thought it was just a fun race. It was just nice tapping into those race instincts and trying to run within myself and reel in as many people as I could.
After the front group broke away and gapped you by about five seconds, it didn’t look like their lead got much bigger.
Four of them broke away, and I reeled in [Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot] pretty quickly. But then we were kind of running the same pace for a while, and I was very slowly able to reel in Helen and Gotytom close to 9K. When I got to them, I was thinking, “Oh it’s nice, I can just tuck in [as we run] into the headwind and relax.” But then I was like, “No, I’m actually right next to Hellen. I probably shouldn’t leave it to a kick.” So I went with 800m to go.
Your last couple races have been really solid. Are you feeling better in general?
Yeah, I started feeling like myself a couple weeks before the New York City Half Marathon. Fall and winter were really rocky for me. I’d have a couple good workouts, but then something in my body just wouldn’t be functioning how I wanted it to. And that was really confusing. A couple weeks before New York, I started feeling like my body was working with me again and I wasn’t having to force it so much.
I knew I needed more than two good, consistent weeks going into the half, but the stimulus of racing [helped], and then I kind of rode that momentum the last month or two. I’m feeling a lot like myself again and I was not sure I was going to get back there.
When you were feeling off, was it a fatigue thing, something biomechanical, or an injury? What was it that didn’t feel right?
So it’s a bit confusing. I think it was a little bit of everything. I had a small injury in 2023, so I was running through that for a lot of the year. That’s when I started noticing my mechanics were breaking down a bit. I don’t know if it was from that or that’s what caused the injury. And I was getting these side stitches and I wasn’t sure what was going on with those.
I just felt like I was breaking down more and more, no matter how much I was trying to rest and get treatment and do strength work. I felt like my body wasn’t responding to anything. Going into the Olympics, my body was not moving the way I wanted it to move, and then I think I overdid it at altitude. I just felt fried. And then some days, my workouts would be fine, and other days, my whole left leg would be so tight, and I’d have a hard time pushing off of it.
I wouldn’t say I was injured going into Paris, but I didn’t feel right. I’d have little aches and pains that were constantly moving around, or I just couldn’t do workouts I was used to being able to do pretty effortlessly.
Coming out of Paris, I knew I needed to take time off from the marathon and reset, but I thought I would come around faster than I did. It took a lot of time, but I was willing to [be patient]. It’s been really fun feeling like myself again. It’s nice to push myself in training and hop in races and not feel like I have something holding me back. I can just go out and compete.
What exactly did you do to get yourself to a better place?
It’s usually a combination for me of getting treatment, reevaluating my strength work in the gym, but the biggest factors are just time and rest. As distance runners, we’re not programmed to be like, “Oh rest is what we need.” We’re just so used to the grind and working really hard, it almost goes against what makes a lot of us good athletes.
And I’m not sure I’m meant to do a bunch of marathons back to back, like I tried to do, which I guess is good information going forward.
Was the move to Ireland in the works for a long time? And what inspired it?
Shane and I live our lives in Olympic cycles, so after Tokyo, he was like, “I love supporting you and I’m so up for continuing to do this another few years. But I really miss working, and I’d love to start my own practice and get back to working somewhere.” So after Paris, our goal was always to pick somewhere as our base, so that Shane could work. He’s able to work just afternoons, and he keeps his mornings free so he can do my workouts with me.
At the end of 2023, we started talking about Ireland and we kind of realized that on paper, what we want to do long term with our future, it actually might make a lot of sense to do it there. So we actually put a deposit on our house back in April 2024, but we only told our close friends about it. There are moments where I’m like, “Oh, this actually is a big deal, like it’s a big change.” But it’s been a pretty smooth adjustment and I like the routine we’ve gotten into.
The running part has been falling into place. I’ve met a lot of really nice people. And then I have all these trips to the U.S., like I’m excited to go back in a week and a half and do some training in Providence and do some racing. We’re figuring it out as we go. I went to Arizona in the winter to do a camp and realized I’d rather be in Ireland with my husband helping me in workouts. So we’re tweaking things as we go.
Do you have any races coming up that you can talk about either specifically or generally?
I have two 10Ks in June on the East Coast. And then I’m trying to plan after that. I was talking to some people this weekend about maybe doing a half marathon in Europe in the fall. And then I am looking at the American marathon majors, so either Chicago or New York, but I’m not committed to one yet.
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Doris Lemngole makes SEC double look easy, Meghan Hunter has a breakthrough race
In Division I, the NCAA outdoor season looks different than the indoor season. Indoors, athletes qualify for nationals via descending order list, so it’s important to have the best times or marks in the country. Outdoors, athletes qualify for nationals out of two regional meets, and because the regional fields are relatively large, the top athletes don’t need to be running their fastest times early.
So the outdoor season tends to take longer to really get going, but the fireworks are coming, and we saw some of those early sparks as most teams competed at their conference meets last week.
Alabama’s Doris Lemngole, who won the NCAA cross country title in the fall and won the 5,000m and took second in the 3,000m at NCAA indoors, was one of the big distance stars of the weekend. She soloed a 9:20.83 steeplechase win at the SEC Championships on Friday and then comfortably won the 5,000m in 15:11.62 the next day. If anyone is going to challenge her in the steeplechase this season, it’s unlikely to happen until next month’s NCAA championships. If she decides to run the 5,000m at regionals as well, she’ll have more competition there.
Arkansas’ Paityn Noe was another star of the SEC meet, partially because she won the 10,000m in 32:49.70 but also because after taking a bad fall in the first mile of the 5,000m, she got up, worked her way back to the lead pack, and finished second in 15:28.85. And LSU’s Michaela Rose looked really strong in winning her third-consecutive SEC 800m title in an impressive 1:59.75. (SEC Championships results)
I was thinking Rose was looking tough to beat, and then I saw what BYU’s Meghan Hunter did at the Big 12 meet. She had one of the bigger breakthroughs of the weekend, lowering her 800m PR from 2:00.21 to 1:58.99. Only Athing Mu and Rose have ever run faster during the NCAA season. (But of course Stanford’s Juliette Whittaker ran 1:57.76 at the Olympics last summer.) Hunter was dealing with an injury indoors and had a rough NCAA meet, but she has obviously turned things around.
Kansas’ Emmaculate Jemutai (1500m, 4:08.60—a seven-second PR), BYU’s Lexy Halladay-Lowry (5,000m, 15:14.93), and West Virginia’s Sarah Tait (steeplechase, 9:44.72) were among the other Big 12 winners. (Big 12 Championships results)
At the ACC Championships, I was impressed by Virginia’s Margot Appleton. She ran 61.2 for her final 400m to win her third-straight 1500m title in 4:11.28. And because UVA was in the running to win the team title, she doubled back in the 5,000m a little over two hours later. Her two points (for finishing seventh in 15:52.55) moved her team into the lead, and they won the meet 93–89 over Louisville.
NC State’s Grace Hartman also impressed, winning that 5,000m in 15:12.03 and earning her first ACC title on the track. Her teammate Angelina Napoleon won the steeplechase (9:27.85) and Clemson’s Gladys Chepngetich won the most competitive conference 800m in the country, running 1:59.94. Behind her were a pair of NCAA champions—UNC’s Makayla Paige (second, 2:00.21) and Stanford’s Roisin Willis (third, 2:00.43). (ACC Championships results)
At the Big Ten Championships, Washington’s Sophie O’Sullivan ran an impressive 58.41-second final lap to win the 1500m in 4:11.66. After finishing second in the 1500m, Oregon’s Şilan Ayyildiz edged out Washington's Amina Maatoug to win the 5,000m, 15:37.11 to 15:37.55. Oregon’s Klaudia Kazimierska negative split the 800m 63.18/59.74 to win in 2:02.92. And Oregon’s Diana Cherotich won the 10,000m in 32:00.48.
In the steeplechase, I was impressed by Washington’s Maggie Liebich. Michigan State’s Katelyn Stewart-Barnett went into the race seeded well ahead of everyone else in the field, but Liebich stuck right on her and was leading going into the final water barrier. Liebich stumbled coming out of the water pit and Stewart-Barnett went on to win in 9:42.78, but Liebich PRed by 21 seconds and took second in 9:48.84. She’s a Princeton graduate who is using her remaining eligibility at UW, and she’s trying out a new event this season. This was only her second steeplechase ever. (Big Ten Championships results | steeplechase replay | 5,000m replay | 800m replay | 1500m replay | 10,000m replay)
Other notable performances: New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei won the steeplechase (9:31.96) and the 5,000m (15:50.96) at the Mountain West Championships. (Results) North Florida’s Smilla Kolbe won the Atlantic Sun Conference 800m title in 2:00.33. (Results) And Georgetown’s Chloe Scrimgeour won the 10,000m at the Big East Championships in 32:13.64. (Results)
Other News and Links
Aliphine Tuliamuk wrote in an Instagram story last week that she is finally able to begin doing a little bit of running again, after undergoing hamstring surgery at the end of last year. “I feel so ALIVE, like I didn’t even realize how much I missed running,” she wrote. “Long ways to go but I am so excited!”
Astronaut Suni Williams, who is recently back from a 286-day trip to the International Space Station, said that she plans to run the Boston Marathon in 2026.
Given that a spot on the World Championships marathon squad will be Betsy Saina’s if she wants it, I’ve been curious about her status, since she hasn’t raced in more than a year. But in an Instagram story last week, she wrote, “Fitness search 👀 Let’s get that noon track session.”
Grand Slam Track announced last week, two weeks out from the Philadelphia Slam, that the Philly meet will now be two days instead of three. The long distance race groups will now compete only once, in a 3,000m, and the top prize will be cut in half. I’m in favor of tightening up the schedule, but some fans are understandably upset because they had already made their travel arrangements. No word yet on what the LA Slam will look like.
Alysia Montaño, Chelsea Clinton, and Sandra Brunson were named Every Mother Counts’ Mothers of the Year. And later in the week, Montaño and her organization, For All Mothers+, were featured on Good Morning America. Knowing that Montaño wasn’t always supported the way she should have been throughout her pro running career, it’s really cool to see her build an incredible post-pro career and help so many other women.
Running USA’s Global Runner Survey aims to get a “detailed look at the desires, needs, and habits of runners around the world,” so it’s important for them to hear from a wide range of runners. If you want to make sure your voice is included, you can fill out the survey here. They’re aiming for 10,000 responses and they aren’t there yet. And bonus, filling out the survey gives you a chance to win a free marathon entry or a treadmill.
Last week, I mentioned that Kassie Parker finished third at the USATF 25K Championships. She blames tired legs, but one day after the race, she tripped, broke her clavicle, and had to undergo surgery. She’s hoping she can get back to racing this summer.
I am so impressed by Anelise Feldman, a freshman at Maine’s Yarmouth High School. She recently finished second to a trans athlete in a 1600m race, and a Maine state representative tried to use that to argue against trans girls’ participation in high school sports. In response, Feldman wrote a powerful letter to the Portland Press Herald. “We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school,” she wrote. “Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren’s participation in the girls’ track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are.” For the record, the winning time in the race was 5:57.27.
“Is the future of college track & field in jeopardy?” asks journalist Ken Goe.
David Monti looked at what it took to earn $1,000 at a road race in 2024.
For the second year in a row, there are no women among the world’s 50 highest-paid athletes.
Additional Results
In the first big steeplechase of the season, Kenya’s Faith Cherotich, 20, edged out Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain, 9:05.08 to 9:05.26, at the Doha Diamond League meet. Cherotich is the reigning Olympic bronze medalist, so she’s hardly an unknown, but this was a big win for her. Returning to the track where she tore her ACL two years ago, Val Constien finished 10th in 9:33.19. Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir won the 1500m in 4:05.00. (Results)
Australia’s Georgia Griffith won the 1500m at Tokyo’s Seiko Golden Grand Prix, running 4:01.10. And Rose Davies, also of Australia, won the 3,000m in 8:43.38.
Laurie Barton of Atlanta Track Club Elite won the 1500m at the Atlanta City Games in a PR of 4:06.71. And Emily Richards of Atalanta NYC won the 800m in a near PR of 2:00.22. (Results)
Princeton’s Mena Scatchard won the 800m at the Princeton Elite Invitational in a school record of 2:00.81. (Results)
Ednah Kurgat won the Denver Colfax Half Marathon in 1:14:36. (Results)
Felicia Pasadyn, 23, who won Ivy League and Big Ten titles as a college swimmer and is now in medical school at NYU, won the Brooklyn Half Marathon in 1:15:37. Last year’s champion, Olympian Kim Conley, 39, took second in 1:16:26. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
Vanessa Fraser fit a lot of good stuff into a short episode of Unexpected Curves. She discussed acting as her own agent and struggling at her last job, where she didn’t feel that she had a voice. It was interesting to hear her approach when she was looking for a new shoe sponsor, and shame on the coach who essentially told her everyone had forgotten her name.
I appreciated Kara Goucher and Des Linden’s Save the 10,000 debrief on Nobody Asked Us. It sounds like they would like to continue with the event in the future, even if it looks a little different.
Serena Burla, 42, is two for two with marathon wins this year. In March, she won the Newport News One City Marathon, running a speedy 2:43:58. And last month, she won the Big Sur Marathon in 2:49:40. Burla was a 2:26 marathoner pre super shoes, and she ran her last pro race in 2018. In last week’s episode of I’ll Have Another, she discussed taking seven years off of racing and setting aside her ego in her return to competition. Burla, who is a cancer survivor, now has three children, ages 16, 5, and 3.
Molly Seidel and Dani Aragon reminisced with the Getting Chicked hosts about their time at Notre Dame, and it was an amusing snapshot of their college years. They had a pretty strict dress code, which Seidel got in trouble for violating, and generally had it tougher than today’s “NIL kids.” Seidel said she recently chose her fall marathon, but she can’t say which one yet.
Sara Vaughn discussed fueling throughout her career on The Fueling Forward Podcast. I appreciated what she had to say about raising children to have a healthy relationship with food.
On The Running Effect, Riley Chamberlain said that after BYU underperformed at the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships, coach Diljeet Taylor had the team write papers about what happened and how they could improve.
Thanks again to Bombas for supporting Fast Women this month and if you’re doing some shopping, remember to use one of the discount codes above. And thanks to all of you who support Fast Women by subscribing to this newsletter and regularly reading it. I hope you all have the best week possible.
Alison